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Nirvana in Nepal Day 280: Bend But Not Break

After eating breakfast at 6 in the morning (I chose to eat my granola bars and peanut butter out of my protest to the price of food on the trail: the peanut butter disappearing all too quickly before my eyes) we began hitting the trail

I got my first views of snow capped mountains that surrounded the bowl of Namche but the joy of that quickly disappeared when clouds swept in and hugged the mountain peaks with an unmistakeable gravitational pull (the sky in between the mountains provided the only blue in the sky and the only chance for the sun to peak itself upon us

Passed many children dressed in their uniform clothing walking their way to school. Think about walking that everyday as your daily commute for school

Around one corner above canyons that dipped all the way down to the river that carved it, we were supposed to see distant views of Everest and other great peaks framed by the ridges arching at a V to the canyon but of course the clouds had to spoil the day and give me worry that this them would continue for much of the trek.

I was still trekking out of season (in this later half of September when the high season of October really starts to kick in) even though we had largely put the monsoon rains behind us but apparently the clouds decided to continue to linger

Anton was leading a killer pace that neither I nor Ori could compete or keep up with

I kept at my pace especially as my knee continued to nag from its initial occurrence while descending from Hem Kund

Both never stopped so I continued to drift behind as I drank my water and refilled it again from the streams while trying to enjoy the otherwise non-stellar scenery that choked the fun out of the essence of the trek. As much as I enjoy a physical pursuit as any other junkie, without the views of the mountains I came here specifically for the point of the trek and the trip would be pointless and lost on me.

I went past village after village thinking that the next one would be the one I would need to call for an early night partly out of fear I was pushing myself too high too fast before I could get properly acclimatized

We stopped for lunch and once again I ate veg momos

We continued on all the way to Dingboche surprising myself as far as how long and high I could climb after a long day the day prior

Anton arranged for free rooms as long as we ate our meals there

Dingboche was depressingly dreary with a gray smoke of clouds refusing to disappear

So damn cold. I haven’t taken shower in far too long but I refuse to take a cold shower and a hot shower is beyond expensive

I ate a Sherpa stew but it was simply not enough. I needed my first taste of Himalayan daal bhat bad.

I continued reading Into Thin Air inspiring me onward through the mountainous terrain partly walking in the author’s footsteps and also revealing to me the dangers of such feats as I rapidly drifted to sleep

Trekking as much as I have so far has meant only trekking, sleeping, and eating with some reading filling in the gaps before my energy is completely stolen from for the day until I repeat the process for the following day